Day 19 - Pulua Ubin

Today I went to another one of Singapore's island which is very near to Malaysia frontier. It's the "Pulua Ubin" which is located at the north east of Singapore. To get to Pulau Ubin, I started at the Tanah Merah MRT station and transferred to bus number 2 taking almost an hour to the Changi Ferry Point Terminal. The terminal was located at Changi Village, next to the bus terminal.

At the ferry terminal, I waited for a boat which would take me to Pulau Ubin. Each ferry would take twelve passengers and it costed $2.50 per passenger for a one-way trip. I enjoyed the moment on the boat which took about 15 minutes, I then arrived Pulau Ubin. 

After I came out from the Pulua Ubin ferry, I walked around and explored the place for a while and found out that the best way to explored Pulau Ubin was to hire a bike and ride around the Island. So, I went to bicycle rental and got my own at $6.

I also got a map from bike rental to look for the attractions in the island. One big attraction on the island was the Chek Jawa wetland, which had extremely rare ecosystems, animals and plants. So, I decided to go straight there. On the way, I cycled along a metalled road in the forest. There were many couples and families cycled here. Not only adults but kids also. I was wondered when I saw young children as a biker. By the way, almost every biker said hi to another passing rider when they came across. 

Deeper inside was a rougher and steeper road, provided with past old wooden houses and coconut trees. Cycling around the island evoked my childhood memories, because I biked almost everyday evening when I was young.

After biking for a while, I came across wild boars in the forest. They walked up an down along the forest onto the bike path, I found them many times while I was biking. Caught by surprise, I saw a sow was feeding her babies, It was adorable!

About 1 km into the island, There were many parts of the track that were too steep to ride up. So, I decided to get off my bike and push it uphill instead. It was challenging beyond description, I almost faint away for many times.

After more than an hour, I finally arrived at Chek Jawa wetland which didn't allow the bikes inside. So, I parked my bike, took a rest for a while and made a short walk to the Chek Jawa boardwalk.

At Chek Jawa, there were two main boardwalks which supported visitors. I stopped and took a picture of the landscapes at seashore and decided to walk along the Coastal Boardwalk path. My good luck, what a pleasant weather today! It was not too hot to enjoyed the sea breeze while I was strolling.

At the end of the Coastal Boardwalk, there was the choice of continuing on along a Mangrove Boardwalk or heading back to the bike parking. I decided to continue to Mangrove forest and walked around 15 minutes and backed to parking.

As part of the one-way road system leading to Chek Jawa, the way back seemed shorter but also felt harder going. I was tired of moving the bike up and down the slopes, there were many times I wanna give up. Anyway, I had no choice.

I decided to take a rest at Balai Quarry, which was a lake on the way back. I was stunned when I saw my message with mobile signal warned me that I was in Malaysia! I was panicked and tired also. So I ignored the message.

I was thankful when the gravel road ended and I reached the metalled road again. After riding back almost 30 minutes, I finally arrived at the jetty. I went back on a boat, and paid another $2.50 back to mainland Singapore.

Day 18 - Universal

Today I went to the mainstream attraction which almost every tourists came to visit, "The Universal Studio". It is a theme park located on Sentosa Island and is the second Universal Studios theme park to open in Asia (Japan being the first)

Actually, there were $74 admission fee, but I bought it from China town in promotion price. So, I got it at $65 and free $10 for meals and $5 for discount retail shops.

This time I used the boardwalk to board Sentosa Island which only had $1 admission fee. I thought I preferred more of boardwalk than monorail because It was cheaper and I could take pictures along river side while I was walking.

After reaching the island, I walked along for a while, I then saw the big globe which is the landmark of every Universal Studio. It was a famous spot for taking pictures. The park consisted of seven themed zones which was surrounded with lagoon. Each zone was based on a movie or a television show featuring their own unique attractions, character appearances, dining and shopping areas.

Firstly, I walked through Hollywood and New York, then stopped at Sci-fi provided with themed city which looked exactly like future technologies.

I played the Transformers which was a 4-D dark ride motion simulator. Tourists would get a 3-D glasses before entered. Luckily, today was a weekday, So it didn't take long to wait in a line. 

Actually, There were a highlight Battlestar Galactica which were the Dueling roller coasters in Sci-fi zone. But they were temporary closed! Poor me.

I continually walked to Ancient Egypt zone which featured rich Egyptian architecture and artifacts found. This zone reminded me to the popular film, The Mummy. At this zone, I played Revenge of the Mummy that was an enclosed steel roller coaster dark ride. When I was queueing up, I noticed an Egyptian tomb, wall paintings of Egypt featured in the inner queue areas. I felt like I was really adventuring in the Pyramid.

After I enjoyed the roller coaster, I walked out to the exit and found out the board of photos that captured the moment I was screaming! I was stunned when I saw my face.. I couldn't describe what my weird face looked like.

My next stop was a The Lost World provided with the Jurassic themed Park. I played the Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure which was a raft water ride along the Jurassic Park which had many dinosaurs along the water ride. 

Beside, I played Canopy Flyer which was another roller coaster attraction but this time was outdoor, so it gave me a bird's-eye view of the park.

The next zone was a Far Far away land which had a huge visually castle. I saw the special characters in front of the castle that appeared in mascot featured Shrek, Fiona and Puss In Boots. 

I walked into the castle and entered the Shrek 4-D Adventure which was 4-D movie theatre show with additional physical effects that is based on the story of Shrek and his quest to save Princess Fiona. The most impressive effect that I liked was a scene that Donkey was sneezing and there were a real water sprinkled on my face. That made me stunned for a second. Beside the castle, there was the Enchanted Airways which was an outdoor steel junior roller coaster that riders were seated in a dragon-themed. I felt nothing except the hot weather out there.

The attraction which located next to the Far Far away was The Madagascar zone. I hadn't seen this cartoon animation before, however I thought it was adorable! I played the Madagascar: A Crate Adventure, was a water ride with Madagascar's characters and displaced cargo ship.

After the Madagascar, I walked back to the New York zone that featured sidewalks and classic landmarks which were enhanced by neon lights. And the attraction that I like was here: "Sesame Street Spaghetti Space Chase". This attraction was a dark ride with Sesame Street characters (Actually, for kids). There were nothing interesting much except ELMO ! Hahahaha, It seems funny but I love It.

Not only for the kids, there were an amazing show for any tourist: "Lights! Camera! Action! Hosted by Steven Spielberg. It was a studio consisted of the special effects to mimic a major hurricane about to hit New York City. It looked like the real things because of darkens, thunder, heavy rain poured, lightning and fire filling the room.

The last zone that I visited was the Hollywood!. Actually, It was located at the main entrance area of the park. But There were nothing except the Pantages Hollywood Theatre which had a Live-Performances in three show times. So, I skipped it at first.

I watched the "Monster Rock Show" in the final round, it was a show which consisted of musicals and performances of many monsters such as, Frankenstein, Mummy, Dracula in the indoor Broadway-style theatre. I thought I noticed that one of the monsters: the Phantom of the opera was a ladyboy. Omg, my childhood memories...

After the show, The sky was dark and the theme park almost closed. So, I decided to visited the retail shop for a while and walked out. I recalled that I had not taken pictures with the globe yet, I then do it before going back home.